Saturday, July 27, 2013

Getting into the activities in the month of May - first a walk around Kichijoji on a fairly nice day.

やっと５月のネタに突入！最初は良い天気の日に吉祥寺まで行ってきました。

Entrance to Sun Road Shotengai (Market Street) / サンロード商店街の入り口

I can't help it, I was a former bookseller and still love to read books.

仕方ありません、元本の販売員なんで、読書も趣味です。

Harmonica Yokocho / ハーモニカ横丁

It was around lunch time when we were walking along Harmonica Yokocho. Looking for somewhere to eat, we pass right by a [Shutters]. Since we haven't been to one in a while it was a no brainer. They have great ribs here and an awesome apple pie.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Yes, I'm still writing about things that took place sometime in April. This year my friends and I had our cherry blossom viewing party after the blossoms had disappeared. Still, any reason to get together with friends for drinks and merriment can't be wrong.

はい、まだ４月のネタを書き続いてる。今年の花見は桜が散った後にやった。ま、ただの宴会でしたが、やっぱり飲み仲間と集まると楽しい！

My friend and I are usually the first ones to arrive for these get togethers. This weekend there was some dog show going on but we set up here anyway. Definitely no cherry blossoms to look at.

The dog show event staff had been asking us to move as we had a lot of food and there were a lot of dogs. So we moved to a greener spot in Yoyogi Park.

犬イベントのスタッフが私たちを移動してくれませんかのことで、代々木公園内のほうに移った。

A special guest joined us - the guy on my left is a man named John. I met him through a Facebook page called "Narimasu / Grant Heights / Drake Middle School". Its a page for people who went to school in these areas. John and I went to the same elementary school - Narimasu Elementary School on Grant Heights Family Housing Annex some thirty-five years ago or so. I found out that he was working in Shinsen (next to Shibuya, where I was working at the time), so we made plans to meet. We had gone out for drinks the night before so I invited him to our hanami as well. Its meetings like this that make you think it really is a small world after all.

Friday, July 19, 2013

In the break room of my new place of employment, the vending machine was carrying a drink that I just had to try - Cola Float in a can! I love cola floats, or better yet, a root beer float...but in a can? But being the adventurous person I am, I took a chance and treated myself to one. No doubt about it, it taste just like a cola float! Only you don't need a spoon to scoop up the ice cream. Unfortunately, two weeks later it was no longer being offered in the vending machine! Bummer.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

﻿While I was still working at my former place of employment, not too long after the D-Lite (from Bigbang) show, I saw a notice posted above the time card machine. It was an invitation for employees to go see the Korean pop idol group, 2PM in the Tokyo Dome, sponsored by their label. The notice also said that the employees were welcome to bring their family members as well. So I called my wife and asked if she wanted to go (already knowing the answer). The group would be doing two show at the Tokyo Dome (Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21). We decided to go to the Sunday show.

I must admit, they have my respect. The show started at 6pm. I figured it would probably be over around 8pm or so. Boy was I wrong. The sang and danced through their set for 3 1/2 hours. The show didn't end until around 9:30pm. That's a lot of power.